Resolving and addressing atoms in individual sites of a CO/sub 2/-laser optical lattice

Summary form only given. Standing wave laser fields produce a periodic potential for atoms, which can trap cold atoms in an ordered crystal-like structure to form an optical lattice. Optical lattices have been used as model systems in studies of quantum dynamical effects and quantum state control. More recently, it has been suggested that such lattices would provide an attractive system for performing quantum logic experiments, as efficient quantum error correction schemes can be implemented due to the inherent possibility of parallel operation. On the other hand, the possibility to selectively address and manipulate single qubits is essential in the operation of quantum logic systems. This is difficult to achieve in conventional optical lattices, where the spatial period is of order half the wavelength of an optical absorption line. We report on the optical imaging of rubidium atoms trapped in the antinodes of an extremely far detuned optical lattice formed by retroreflecting the light of a CO/sub 2/-laser operating near 10.6 /spl mu/m. To our knowledge, this represents the first observation of the individual sites of an optical lattice with a periodicity near half the trapping wavelength. Besides the unusually large lattice constant (5.3 /spl mu/m), intriguing properties of this type of lattice also include extremely long coherence times, as the expected average photon scattering time is over 10 minutes.